When the vice president referred to her mom’s question about falling out of a coconut tree, she was recounting a lesson about the importance of history. Speaking to government appointees who would work on economic and education equity for Hispanic Americans, she emphasized that their task would be to aid not only young people, but also their parents, grandparents, teachers, and communities, “because none of us just live in a silo. Everything is in context.”

And she continued:

“My mother used to — she would give us a hard time sometimes, and she would say to us, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?’

You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.”

Now, the takeaway is clear enough, something that’s been said for centuries: No person is an island.

But it was her delivery that turned it into a meme: in a joking voice, with exaggerated hand and arm gestures, and with a signature Kamala Harris laugh.

At the time, social media users and right-wing accounts accused her of behaving strangely: “Obviously drunk,” one viral tweet said, while others used clips of the speech to describe being intoxicated or inebriated (which itself is another Harris meme).